[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[October 31, 1998]
[Pages 1937-1938]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Statement on Signing the Haskell Indian Nations University and
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Administrative Systems Act of
1998
October 31, 1998
Today I am signing into law H.R. 4259, the ``Haskell Indian Nations
University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute Administrative
Systems Act of 1998.'' Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell) and
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) are the only Federally
owned and operated schools in the United States dedicated to higher
education for American Indians. Together they have provided thousands of
American Indians valuable educational opportunities. This Act will
broaden and increase those opportunities by assisting both institutions
in their ongoing efforts to attract and retain highly qualified
administrators, faculty, and staff.
The Act authorizes Haskell and SIPI each to conduct a 5-year
demonstration project to test the feasibility and desirability of
alternative personnel management systems designed to meet the special
staffing circumstances in a college and university setting. Currently,
Haskell and SIPI operate under the same civil service personnel system
as most other Federal agencies. The demonstration projects authorized by
H.R. 4259 will provide these schools flexibility to test personnel
reforms in areas such as recruitment, hiring, compensation, training,
discipline, promotion, and benefits. At the same time, the Act maintains
continued adherence to applicable laws and regulations on matters such
as equal employment opportunity, Indian preference, and veterans'
preference. My expectation is that, at the conclusion of these
demonstration projects, these schools will have tested alternative
personnel systems that maintain important employee benefits and
protections while promoting the flexibility necessary in a college and
university setting.
In signing H.R. 4259, I recognize that the legislation raises
several concerns. It allows Haskell and SIPI to conduct demonstration
projects involving leave and other employee benefits,
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such as retirement, health benefits, and life insurance--something no
other Federal agency has been permitted to do. We must be mindful that
altering employees' benefits for even a brief portion of their careers
can have a serious long-term effect. Should such modifications be
applied to a large number of Federal employees through other
demonstration projects they could have a damaging effect on the Federal
retirement and insurance trust funds, which depend on spreading risk of
loss over the largest possible group of individuals. These concerns are
compounded by the fact that H.R. 4259 does not provide for the level of
oversight by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that is typically
required for personnel-related demonstration projects.
Because of these concerns, I am directing the Secretary of the
Interior and the presidents of Haskell and SIPI to involve the OPM fully
in the development and evaluation of the schools' demonstration
projects. This involvement is only appropriate given the OPM's important
role in managing and safeguarding Federal employee benefits programs and
overseeing demonstration projects. Further, I strongly urge the Congress
to await the outcome of the OPM's ongoing comprehensive review of the
Government-wide benefits package for Federal employees before
authorizing other demonstration projects outside the OPM's current
statutory authority.
With these caveats, I trust that H.R. 4259 will prove helpful to
Haskell and SIPI in attracting and retaining highly qualified employees,
thereby enabling them to continue to fulfill their important mission of
providing quality higher education opportunities to American Indians.
William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 31, 1998.
Note: H.R. 4259, approved October 31, was assigned Public Law No. 105-
337.